On 29.12.2007 01:59 chris wrote:[CL45:DL70]
Only my 3rd serious go at a blue mage, the previous two surrendering to boredom (aka, eventual deletion of save file after prolonged lack of play). Last time, I was stupendously frustrated by a lack of telepathy, and vowed to take the difficult start, but ultimately rewarding path of the spectre. Pass wall is very crucial, as Blue Mages have no way to get back SP other than resting or restore mana, the latter being to precious to use casually. But lacking any regeneration, resting is not very fruitfull either, as monsters typically regain 5 stars of health in the time it takes me to regenerate mana, and that's not even the fast regenerators!

Learned Darkness Storm from Jack (12 hits to learn), Mana Storm from Habu (15 hits to learn, plus umpty billion psycho spears!) and Starburst from a Solar (2 hits to learn). These are the 3 key spells, although breaths are useful, if not as deadly.

But I am currently finding the DL70 uniques quite a challenge ... not sure what I need to turn the tide a bit. Probably just a source of regeneration and some resources to burn.

On 29.12.2007 05:15 chris wrote:[CL48:DL72]
Parked it at DL70 or so for quite a bit ... OK, the lack of regen is not as bad as previously stated. Must be that my +26 base speed has improved things (versus my +0 base speed experiences trying to kill Great Bile Wyrms). Still, regen would help things, but it is not as essential as I might have let on.

I must say that I am starting to love Starburst. A surprising number of monsters are vulnerable to light, and receive a cool 1,000 hp thrashing for a mere 32 spell points at the end of this tasty treat! Wow! Nazguls come to mind, as do most undead.

Down to 7% fails on the light and dark storms, 14% on the (mostly unused) mana storm.

[CL50:DL80]
Cantoras was tough, but I really wanted to drop my depth to DL80 in hopes of *healing* and perhaps some staves of healing.

Finally, finally, finally: 50th level. Just managed to beat out 20 hours, which is pretty good for a non-melee character. And it took 186 uniques down to finally reach this goal. Well, at least I won't be swamped with uniques in the end game :-) Still, the challenging ones remain, including the Destroyer, and actually, most any unique below DL82 or so. But my resources are starting to grow. I could really use the Staff of the Magi, but I'm not sure I can take a Fenguan in the arena.

Hooorah! Very easy battle as the only uniques I left for the Serpent to summon were Tulscha, Greater Hell Beast, and the Plain Gold Ring. Nodens and the Unicorn also remained, but evil guys won't summon good guys, so I felt safe.

Love that breathe disintegration. Much better than the wand version, or the chaos version. Simply breathe in a direction, and you get a nice line of wall removal that fans out at the end. Used this to gain Line of sight on the Serpent while minimizing summon vulnerability. Then, the Starburst!